The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health Institutional Review Board, known simply by its initials as “the IRB,” comprises an independent oversight body of health professionals and community representatives housed within the Office of the Institutional Review Board in the DPH Chief Science Office.
The IRB committee and the Office of the Institutional
Review Board ensure that all research and related
activities such as evaluation, needs assessment,
non-legally mandated surveillance and some QA/QI
projects involving Los Angeles County Department of
Public Health (DPH) staff, facilities, and
clients/patients are conducted in accordance with the
highest scientific and ethical standards and applicable
federal and state regulations (45 CFR 46).
The IRB ensures the right of research subjects or participants to:
- Freely decide on the basis of complete and accurate information whether or not to participate
- Have their privacy respected and their information kept confidential
- Participate only in research devoted to answering significant questions with sound scientific methods
- Have any risks of research kept to a minimum and balanced by potential benefits.
The core IRB function is reviewing applications
submitted by researchers
(or the responsible DPH staff liaison for outside and multi-agency collaborations). The instructions, links and other information presented on this website
are intended to help researchers navigate the process for submitting an application
for IRB review.
The IRB review process is thorough and it is often the case that applications are not approved unconditionally on their first try. In such instances, applications may be conditionally approved pending satisfaction of stipulations
which state that certain aspects of the project must be changed or clarified. In some cases, the application may be sent back for substantial rethinking and revision. This should not be considered a disaster, however, as nearly every application is eventually approved!
The IRB strives to improve not only the quality of individual applications but also the richness of the overall research environment by ensuring that data-gathering activities adequately integrate principles of ethics and equity. Therefore, the IRB supports its core function through an active outreach, consultation and training program. Please visit our
Trainings page for information about upcoming workshops.
The DPH IRB is part of a national system of IRBs
(sometimes called “research ethics committees” or “human
subjects protection programs”) required by the federal
government for any institution or agency that receives
federal funds for biomedical, public health or social
scientific research. The basic requirements and
standards for IRBs are established in the Code of
Federal Regulations and are overseen and sometimes
audited by three federal offices, but each local IRB
functions independently to apply the federal minimum
standards to its particular local context, often with
additional state or county requirements. The DPH IRB was
established by action of the L.A. County Board of
Supervisors in 1999.
